Wondering if Tetra's are the one for me

[trout_pout]

I have seen Head and tail light tetra's in the shop near me. They look kind of boring
What would you say is the best kind of tetra's, as in the best for breeding, size etc.

 

[trout_pout]

also wondered, tiger barbs are selling out in the shop near me, should I get a few of them (ask them to reserve me some) say 5. Or are they hard to look after? what requirements do they have

 

[millym]

hi there,
our main experience with tetras( about a years) is with neons & lately cardinals. we've also got 2 red eyes (out of an original 6 a year ago) we love them! neons/cardinals are beautiful to look at stunning colours & so are the red eyes. but we had several red eyes die suddenly for no apparent reason our neons & cardinals seem hardier but i know theyre not known as hardy fish. lots of people seem to have probs with them. ours are in a 4ft community tank & all seem quite happy. the red eyes are not as active fish as the neons/cardinals - spend a lot of time in their preferred 'patch' just bobbing around but still beautiful to look at. initially our neons/cardinals used to school together all the time but they only tend to do that now if we're fiddling around in the tank cleaning etc.... otherwise they just potter around by themselves. apparently this is normal for them when they feel safe & confortable in their environment. our neons & cardinals are about an inch long cardinals grow a little bigger than neons but i think an inch is about average for neons( mods please correct me if im wrong)

as for tiger barbs we have 3 stripey & 3 green & theyre brilliant active mischevious fish. but to avoid probs with them nipping/harrassing other fish they need to be kept in a group of at least 6 pref more. ours are always together, never nip/bother any other of our fish & just have little dominance spats with eachother with no injuries to eachother. ( they spin nose to nose back & forth at a million miles an hour when theyre doing this - fascinating to watch )
tiger barbs also need room to swim theyre always milling around/swimming up & down our tank on their patrol, so i wouldnt stick them in a small tank or a hex/tall tank, it really doesnt suit them.

we keep our tank temp at approx 24c, our pH is 7.9-8.0 -higher thank recommended for these types of fish but its our london tap water & all our fish seem to be ok in this. we check the water regularly & do changes if we have any nitrite/ammonia. our nitrate is often 20-40 which again is the local water but doesnt seem to cause any probs/stress. tiger barbs are particularly sensitive to nitrite in the water & will often float nose pointing down if you have nitrite( they park in this position when sleeping too though even with no nitrite/probs in the water) our barbs we had for nearly a year and are all about 2 inches big, i think the ave is 2 - 2 & a half inches although ive read they can get to 3 inches long in size

tetras & tigers are both gorgeous fish we'd have 100s more if we had room
good luck.

 

[trout_pout]

Do you think I could be able to put 5 tiger barbs, maybe 4 tetra's and I might get a cat fish In a 20 - 40 gallon tank?

 

[yellowsky]

hey i was thinking of doing that to my 130l tank too!

 

[canarsie11]

So tetras and tiger barbs can co exist? I also have 4ft long Tank!

 

[Stryker]

I've got "head and taillight" and "prestilla" tetra. They are ok, I've found them to be a very visible fish. They will just kinda hang out in the middle of the tank all day. However drop some food in and watch the water boil! they are very competative for food, they wont fight other fish for the food, problem is they will possibly eat all the food before other slower or bottom dwelling fish can get to it.

 

[Mesome]

My favorites are diamond tetras, and red eyes. Not sure about breeding though...

 

[tmlhaus]

I had tiger barbs, got rid of them. Took them back to LFS and traded them in for other fish . They are real nippy fish, and I found out it doesn't matter if you just have 3 or 10, either way they're nippy.
As for the tetras, I currently have the black phantom tetras and I think they are real pretty. We had black hifin tetras, but they got ick. These are much prettier. If you go with the tigers, just make sure nothing you put in there has flowy and fancy fans.